SFUSD opens new special education site for students with high needs

The empty Edwin and Anita Lee Building in Chinatown is set to become a new special education site, giving San Francisco families a city-based option for students with extensive support needs who have long depended on placements farther from home.

San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco County Office of Education announced the program for the 2026-27 school year. It will start with two classrooms serving 16 students in grades 5 through 12, then expand to four classrooms and 32 students in the 2027-28 school year. The district said the students will have autism and intellectual disabilities and will need complex academic, behavioral and social-emotional support.

The move matters because SFUSD said about 160 students with individualized education plans are now placed in non-public schools, in part because the district does not have enough internal capacity for them. In its board presentation, SFUSD said there is no extensive support needs non-public-school option within city limits. That has left some families relying on out-of-city day schools and lengthy transportation, a system the district says the new program is meant to reduce.

The new site is also intended to answer a practical question for families who have spent years stitching together services across San Francisco and beyond: whether the district can build a stable, local setting for children who need the most intensive support. SFUSD said the program will include an occupational therapy room, a calm-down room and a speech therapy room, and that it will operate as a self-contained Extensive Support Needs school with enriched social skills instruction and behavior-based supports.

District officials tied the plan to recommendations from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team issued in March 2026, which called for more special education options in San Francisco. SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su said the goal is to better serve students locally, strengthen family partnerships and reduce long-distance travel for services.

The district has already started hiring for the program, including two teachers selected internally, an assistant principal, five paraeducators, a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist. Board member Jaime Huling has said non-public school placements can cost more than $200,000 per student each year, underscoring why the district is moving to build its own capacity.

Support also came from the SFUSD Community Advisory Committee for Special Education. Vice chair Tina Perdices welcomed the development, and Vanita Louie said reopening the Edwin and Anita Lee site would matter for students with disabilities and their connection to the city. The bigger test now is whether the first two classrooms become a durable fix, or only a small pilot in a district still struggling to meet the needs of far more families.